Millions of people are afflicted with osteoporosis, a condition or disease characterized by low or reduced bone mineral density, which often results in painful and sometimes life-threatening bone fractures.
Osteoporosis can be classified as either primary or secondary. Primary osteoporosis is associated with menopause (natural, premature, or surgical), aging, or both. Secondary osteoporosis is associated with medical conditions such as Paget's, chronic renal disease, amenorrhea from eating disorders, transplantation, hyperthyroidism, parathyroidism, and others. Secondary osteoporosis can also be associated with the use of certain medications, such as various cancer chemotherapies, gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists, medroxy progesterine acetate for birth control, corticosteroids, anticonvulsants, and others.
There are many different methods of treating or preventing osteoporosis that are known or otherwise described in the literature, including estrogen therapy in postmenopausal women, the administration of calcitonin, parathyroid hormone, bisphosphonates, or other similar medications or therapies in appropriate individuals. The use of many of these medications, however, is often associated with its own inherent risk and side effect profile, most notable of which is perhaps the use of estrogen in postmenopausal women and the recently documented concerns associated with such use.
Other methods of treating or preventing osteoporosis include a variety of dietary management methods directed to the use of different nutrients or other natural materials. Most notable among these dietary methods is the use of calcium and vitamin D to correct or prevent their respective insufficiencies in individuals at risk of developing osteoporosis. Current recommendations are that all adults receive at least 1200 mg/day of calcium and from 400-800 IU/day of vitamin D.
Other dietary methods for treating or preventing osteoporosis include the use of a variety of different nutrients or other natural materials, including those described in: U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,540 (use of plant extracts from onions, parsley, cabbage, arrugula or roquette); U.S. Pat. No. 6,391,309 (use of plant phytochemicals such as isoflavones, lignans, saponins, sapogenins, catechins and phenolic acids, preferred sources of which include soy, wheat, psyllium, rice, oats, red clover, kudzu, alfalfa, flax, and cocoa); U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,703 (use of soy isoflavone formononetin); U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,887 (use of natural phyto-estrogens including genistein, diadzein, formononetin and biochanin A, which may be obtained from soy); U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,446 B1 (use of calcium, an organic acid, and isoflavone and inulin or an oligosaccharide to reduce the risk of bone density loss; soy is disclosed as a possible source of the isoflavones; ogliosaccharides include FOS and gluco-oligosaccharides); and WO 02/074308 (use of soy or other isoflavones such as diadzein, glycitein and genistein in combination with polyunsaturated acids to prevent osteoporosis)
Still other dietary methods for treating or preventing osteoporosis are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,074 discloses a nutrient fortified food bar with dietary fiber, non-animal protein, simple carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, sugars, antioxidants and lecithin that provides polyunsaturated linoleic acid, superunsaturated alpha-linolenic acid, amino acids, magnesium, chloropolyll and pyridoxine and includes sodium and potassium, but has no cholesterol, artificial flavorings or colors and has a minimum amount of saturated fat. Various sources are disclosed for the dietary fiber including oatmeal, cornmeal, wheat germ, barley, rye, psyllium husk, apple pectin, spelt flour, kamut flour, and dried unsulphured date, fig, papaya, raisin, apricot, pineapple, banana, mulberry, cherry, prune, sultana, and pineapple. Non-animal protein sources include soy, wheat germ, gelatin, yeast, almond, hulled sesame seed, sunflower seed, flaxseed, oatmeal and whey.
WO 01/97633 discloses food products with vitamins, minerals, soy protein, soluble fiber and calcium. The products comprise at least one particulate ingredient, a nutrient powder and a binder. The particulate ingredient cad-provide macronutrients such as soy proteins, fiber, calcium, lipids and other protein sources. Suitable particulate ingredients can be sourced from grain flakes, soy flour, soy protein, soy protein isolate, peanut flour, oat bran, guar gum, psyllium, fructooligosaccharides (such as inulin) and/or insoluble fiber such as from bran or carboxymethylcellulose. The particulate ingredient can include nuts or nut pieces, or dried fruit pieces. Examples of suitable dried fruits include raisins, prunes, cherries, apples, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, figs, bananas, dates, currants, apricots, dried cranberries and mixtures thereof.
Still other methods of treating or preventing osteoporosis have been directed to the dietary use of fructooligosaccharides (FOS), an example of which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,255, which discloses a material for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis that contains minerals and digestible oligosaccharides such as FOS.
Other dietary methods include the use of plums or prunes to affect bone mineral density. For example, according to one study, ovariectomized rats were immediately fed different levels (5% and 25%) of dried plum for 45 days. The bone mineral density (BMD) of the 4th lumbar in rats eating a high dose of dried plum was similar the BMD of the sham operated group (Arjmandi et al., “Prune: Its Efficacy in Prevention of Ovarian Hormone Deficiency-Induced Bone Loss,” J.B.M.R 1999; 14: S515). Dried plum at 5, 15, or 25% of diet was also able to reverse existing bone loss in a dose dependent manner in another study of ovarian hormone deficient rats. This study also showed that the strength of the bones was greater in the rats fed any concentration of dried plums compared to the control groups (Deyhim, F., et al., “Prune Dose-Dependently Reverses Bone Loss in Ovarian Deficient Rats,” J. Bone & Mineral Research 1999; 14: S394). Muhlbauer et al., study the effect of various foods, including prunes, on male rats and found that feeding rats dry fennel, celeriac, oranges, prunes, French beans and mushrooms as well as the freeze-dried residue from red wine inhibited bone resorption. (Muhlbauer, Roman C., et al., “Various Selected Vegetables, Fruits, Mushrooms and Red Wine Residue Inhibit Bone Resorption in Rats,” J. Nutr. 2003; 133: 3592-3597.)
In another study, 100 grams of dried plums were fed to postmenopausal women for 3 months (Arjmandi, B. M., et al., “Dried Plums Improve Indices of Bone Formation in Postmenopausal Women,” J. Women's Health & Gender Based Medicine 2002; 11: 61-68). Serum levels of insulin-like growth factor and bone specific alkaline phosphatase were significantly increased. Although these markers are associated with greater rates of bone formation, the biomarkers of bone resorption were not affected. The results of this study suggest that dried plums may exert positive effects on bone in postmenopausal women but probably not by decreasing the rate of bone remodeling which is accelerated in postmenopausal women.
Although dried plums are known to be effective in improving certain indices of bone formation, many people dislike dried plums or are otherwise unwilling to take enough of them each day to affect bone formation, i.e., 100 gms or about 10 dried plums daily. For these people, it would be desirable to formulate the dried plums into a product form such as a beverage or a snack or meal bar. However, because such large quantities of dried plums are needed, formulating a convenient product form such as a beverage or meal bar with enough dried plum solids to affect bone formation has been problematic.
It has now been found that the combination of dried fruit solids as defined herein and a soluble indigestible oligosaccharide are surprisingly more effective in treating or preventing osteoporosis than either component when used alone. In particular, it has been found that the combination of fructooligosaccharides and dried plums is many times more effective in changing bone mineral density in estrogen-deficient, ovariectomized, osteopenia-induced, female rats than either ingredient when used alone.
It has also been found that these combinations of dried fruit solids and soluble indigestible oligosaccharides are surprisingly effective in controlling body weight in estrogen-insufficient animal models. It is well known that estrogen insufficiency associated with menopause, surgical ovariectomy, ovarian disorders and certain drug treatments often results in or contributes to weight gain as well as osteoporosis. It is also well known that weight reduction by traditional caloric restriction techniques in postmenopausal women is often slower because of lower basal metabolic rates, as well as a compromised hormonal status. Both menopause and weight reduction are associated with bone loss.